How To Save A Life
by Kairiangel035
Summary: After Namine died in a tragic accident and Roxas's suicide, two families must come together to help each other through this hard time. AU
1. Chapter 1

**How To Save A Life**

** Chapter 1**

_ "Kairi?"_

_ "Hmm?"_

_ "Kairi, wake up."_

_ "Why?"_

_ "He's dead."_

_ "Who's Dead?"_

_ "Roxas."_

That's the kind of awakening I got at two-thirty this morning and now I'm walking down a cold empty street with my sister to my old friend's house who is now dead. When I looked over, her face looked sickly pale and lifeless, it was really hard to believe this bluenette beauty was my sister. There was no conversation between us during our fifteen minute walk and honestly I didn't want to go. What was the point of going, he was dead and there was nothing anyone could do now, plus I had to get up for school in a few hours.

When we arrived at the house there was a boy with brown spiky hair dimly lit in the porch light. His hands we're clasped together and resting over his nose and mouth, his eyes closed. I quietly made my way up the porch steps but as Aqua passed me, his blue eyes flew open and caught mine.

"I'm so sorry about your brother Sora." I said as I sat beside him and pulled him into a hug. He just sat there lifelessly, not hugging back. Once I let him go it was quite between us, so I just watched our breath rise up in the cold mid November air.

"He was a great person, it's not going to be the same without him." Sora told me after a few minutes, not looking at me. It was as if he was talking to himself or someone else.

All I could do was look at the ground. "I wonder why he did it." I mumbled.

"Nobody really knows why, but I think it's because he never got over Namine's death." he answered me. I nodded in response and then he continued. "Sure we all had a rough time getting over it, we all cared about her, but he loved her. He just didn't have the strength to get over it so he took his own life to get rid of the pain. Nice pajamas and hair by the way."

I jumped a little and looked up to see that he was looking at me with a faint smile on his face. My sister had made us leave quickly so I didn't have time to fix my hair or get clothes on, so now my hair was puffed up a little in the back and I was still in my red pajamas with hearts on the bottoms. Sora on the other hand, Sora's hair was as neat as it could be and he was dressed in black jeans and a black hoodie. "Umm...thanks, my sister kind of made us leave in a hurry." I explained.

He just nodded a little. "We should go inside, the ambulance are probably almost here now."

"Wait...you mean...Roxas's body's still in there?" I asked slightly surprised as the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I really didn't want to see a dead body.

Sora just stood up and held out his hand to me, which I quickly grabbed onto and he helped pull me up. "It'll be fine." he said as we walked to the door. He quietly opened the door, and held it open for me.

When I was inside I looked around to see the first floor was completely empty. "Where is everyone?" I asked.

"Probably up in Roxas's room. C'mon let's go." he said as he climbed the stairs.

I just looked at the stairs not moving, "But I really don't want to. I don't want to see another dead body of someone close to me." I said. It was already bad enough that I watched Namine die in the hospital after the accident, she didn't even look like herself, she was too pale and fragile...and broken. She died back in May when she was walking to the store and a drunk driver ran her over. It was something none of us could ever forget.

Sora came back down the stairs and waited for me on the bottom step. "You'll be okay, I'm here with you this time." I sighed in defeat and walked up the stairs by his side. Once we got to Roxas's room Aqua and a man who had blonde spiky hair stood on opposite sides of the room. It wasn't until I looked down on the floor that the reality of Roxas actually being dead hit me. Tears stung my eyes as I saw the blonde spiky haired boy around Sora's age laying on the floor lifeless, gashes running from his wrists up the the creases of his elbow.

"Oh my god." I gasped as I covered my mouth and hot tears started running down my face. I didn't want to believe this was real, I wanted this all to be a dream. Nobody said anything to anyone, but Sora's older brother looked at me as if he hated me, like this was my fault.

When lights started to flash outside the house, he walked out of the room. "Looks like their here." he said more to himself. I walked over to Aqua and she hugged me.

"It'll be alright" she comforted as Sora and his brother led the ambulance in the room. They quickly put Roxas's body and a body bag and they were gone.

"Thank you for coming." the blonde haired man said.

Aqua smiled a little. "Not a problem Ventus."

"Please just call me Ven." he said. "Come on you two, I'll take you home." he offered as he pulled his car keys out of his pocket.

"Thank you so much." Aqua said and we both quickly left the house and got into Ven's Mercedes and we were off. We barely made it halfway down the block and I was out.


	2. Chapter 2

** Chapter 2**

When I woke up again I was in my bed, unsure how I got there. I felt tired and wanted to go back to sleep but when I rolled over and looked at my alarm clock the little red numbers said it was six forty-five, so I reluctantly crawled out of bed, grabbed on of my school uniforms from my closet and walked onto my bathroom.

As I undressed to take a shower I got a good look at myself in the mirror, my eyes looked tired and swollen, which was a pretty good sign of what happened a few hours ago wasn't a dream. I shuddered a little as the cool air hit my bare skin, so I quickly jumped in the shower and turned on the hot water. Once I was warmed up enough I closed my eyes and thought about how bad I felt for Sora and Ven, their family already had enough problems. Roxas and Sora were twins and had a close bond with each other since day one, Ven is four years older than both of them, making him nineteen, and he looked identical to Roxas. When Ventus turned fourteen their father walked out on them with the whole "I'm going to the store, I'll be back later." excuse, but her never came back. Nine months later their mom died of a broken heart, leaving Ven to raise Sora and Roxas. Their father came back a year later but Ven pushed him out of their life for good, now they lost one of their brother.

I sighed and shut off the water, wrapping myself in a white towel and stepped out. I quickly put on my school uniform which was, black knee high socks, a blue and white plaid mini-skirt, a white t-shirt and blue and white plaid tie. Once I was dressed I quickly brushed my shoulder length red hair, pulled it back in a binder and clipped it to the back of my head. Then I quickly hung my towel back on the rack, walked into my room, grabbed my bag and ran downstairs.

It was dark down there so Aqua must still be sleeping so for breakfast I grabbed a small silver package of pop-tarts. It was a cute reminder of my childhood days. I quickly opened the packaging and started nibbling on one as I slid my black shoes on, put on my dark gray hoodie and walked out the door. Luckily for me I only lived a block away from the school so I got to sleep in a little more than the other kids because it was an easy walk.

The school day went by like any other day, which was surprising, it didn't seem to be the same without Roxas there, it was hard getting through each day with Namine gone as it was. I shuddered every time I passed Sora though, his eyes scared me. They weren't his eyes at all, the spark that was always there was dead, it was replaced by sadness and weakness. I wish I could make him feel better, but I couldn't.

After school I didn't go straight home, instead I went to a lake that I knew of near by Not many people knew of it because it was hidden in the forest, surrounded by lots of trees. At least it was only a ten minute walk from my house so I could get home pretty quickly if I needed to. Once I got there I sat down near the edge of the water and starred at the thing crystallizing layer of ice as I thought about Roxas. He was a sweet boy, that much everyone knew, and it really was surprising that he'd take his own life. I guess he loved Namine more than we though, maybe even more than I did, and she was my cousin. My thoughts quickly spiraled from Roxas to death.

What did dying feel like? Nobody could answer that question for me, and I guess it all depended on how you died. As I looked at the water I decided I was going to find out myself. I slid off my shoes and pulled my hoodie tighter to my body as I jumped into the deep ice cold water. It didn't seem bad at first, the cold water at first was shocking but then it was comfortable down there. I closed my eyes and relaxed for a few minutes, even when my air supply ran out I forced myself to stay there until I couldn't take it any more and my lungs started to burn.

As I tried to swim for the surface my arms and legs felt tired and it was hard for me to get back to the surface, in fact I was sinking more deeper into the water. I started to panic and tried swimming as hard as I could until I broke the surface of the water. I took in a deep breath of air and coughed up water as I pulled myself out. My body felt tired and my lungs burned. Then I heard faint footsteps coming in my direction, so I looked up to see Sora running my way. He had been home already because he was already changed into his regular close and his eyes were filled with worry.

"Geez Kairi, what were doing?" he asked as he ran towards me. I could only imagine what he saw, I was soaking wet, my exposed skin was covered in goosebumps and probably looked blue or purple and my lips were probably blue no doubt.

I shuddered without feeling cold and looked him in the eyes. "I was swimming." I lied.

"Swimming?" he questioned sarcastically. "It's forty-five degrees out and you're swimming?" then he shook his head, pulled out his phone, quickly dialed a number before putting it to his ear. It was dead quite for a few seconds before he said anything. "I got her, I'll bring her home now." he said before he hung up, then he looked at me. "Can you walk?"

I shrugged. "Kind of, but not really well."

Sora just sighed a little and quickly unzipped my hoodie before taking it off. Then he took his off and gave it to me to wear. Then before anything could happen, he wrapped one arm around my waist and the other was guiding one of my hands around his neck as he pulled me off the ground. "Then I'll help you walk." he smiled a little.

When we reached my house, Sora just walked in and Aqua was waiting at the top of the stairs. "Bring her up to the bathroom." she told him and before I knew it we were climbing the stairs...well actually it was more like he was, my limbs felt like limp noodles. "Thank you, you can go now Sora." Aqua said as she started undressing me and handed him his hoodie back. He nodded at her and turned away before he saw anything.

It wasn't long before Aqua had be completely undressed and in the bathtub. I screamed out in pain because the water was extremely hot. "Why did you fill the bath with really hot water?" I complained as her worried tired eyes locked onto mine.

"Kairi...the water's cold. If I threw you into hot water right now, your body would go into shock and you would die." she explained to me sternly.

I looked at her slightly confused. "How would you know that?" I asked.

She just smiled a little and shook her head. "I'm not in medical school just for fun." she said. After a few minutes she pulled the plug and pulled me out and wrapped me in a towel, then she wrapped her arms around me and led me to my room, pulling out my pajamas and started dressing me.

This situation reminded me a lot of the days when she took care of me after my parents died, I was only five then, she was twelve. Child services wanted to put us into foster care where we could get what we needed, but Aqua was mature for her age and wouldn't allow that to happen. She swore up and down she could take care of me if they gave her a chance, one guy even ended up with a broken nose, another one with a black eye. But in the end she was given the chance she wanted and we've been like this ever since.

Once I was dressed she led me down stairs and made me some hot soup, then I was in bed. As I looked at the ceiling I thought about how stupid I really was today. Everyone was dealing with Roxas's death, and today I almost died as well. They didn't need to suffer anymore than they were.


	3. Chapter 3

** Chapter 3**

I woke up early the next morning, freezing even though I had ten blankets on me. Sadly enough though I had to get out whatever warmth I had and go into the cold room. As I stood I stood and stretched a little as I went to the closet to grab a clean uniform. Once I had that in hand I quickly hopped in a warm shower, which made me shiver more, even though it felt good having the warm water heat my frozen body. Yesterday's move was probably the stupidest thing I have ever done in my life. I could have died and caused everyone more pain, or have a really bad case of hypothermia. I was just thankful to have people who cared about me so much.

Even Ven who had given my the look of _this is your fault Roxas is dead _look two nights ago, he had stopped by to make sure I was okay as I drifted in and out of consciousness. It was nice to know he didn't hate me, I all of yesterday I carried around the feeling that he did. But Sora was a whole different story, would he hate me for the rest of his life because of what I did? Because he almost lost me shortly after the person he cared about most in the world? I shuddered at the thought of what today might bring.

When I got dressed I felt my hair down, hanging loosely over my shoulders. I had to smile a little bit when I walked back into my room, my favorite dark gray hoodie I was wearing yesterday was laying across the foot of my bed. Aqua and washed and dried it last night to make sure I would have it today. I quickly put it on and pushed my nose to the inner fabric before zipping it up to my chest. I loved the smell of clean clothes, I really did. It was really nice of her for doing that for me, this hoodie is really special to me because it was Namine's and she had given it to me a few weeks before she died.

Once I was done dressing and went down stairs I noticed I was up a little earlier than usual, so I used the extra time to make myself a pancake for breakfast. I knew my body wasn't in the mood for anything cold, not after what I did. I just sat in the dark kitchen and slowly ate my pancake, watching the sun threatening to rise behind the heavy gray clouds. When I was finished I walked over to the sink and washed my plate off, there's no point in leaving more work for Aqua.

After that I walked into the living room on my way to the door to see Aqua passed out on the couch. I sighed a little as I saw her curled up in a little ball with the phone on the arm rest next to her head. All I could do was walk over and cover her up with a blanket, she only fell asleep on the couch when she was busy and with the phone by her head I guess she was letting everyone know I was alright. Once she was all covered up I brushed my fingertips against her hand quickly before walking out the door.

I arrived at school early so I just spent the extra time walking around the hallways, not like there was anything better to do anyway. It wasn't until five minutes before first hour started that my nerves kicked in and stated to make me panic. What was I going to do about Sora? He was probably upset about yesterday, would he yell at me, telling me I was the worst person in the world and he didn't want anything to do with me or would he completely ignore me? Honestly at this point I don't know what was worse, but then out of nowhere someones arms wrapped around me from behind and pulled me into an awkward hug. I tilted my head up to see Sora standing over me, which was a complete shocker.

"Hey Sora..." I said nervously. Either he was trying to make me calm down before lashing me out...or...or...I really had no idea what else this could be. "Good morning to you to...why are you hugging me?"

He let me go so I could turn around and face him. Once I got a better look I could see he had a bit of a smile on his face. "Sorry about that, I'm just so glad you okay." he told me as the bell rang. "You better get to class, I don't want you to be late." he called over his shoulder as he turned around and headed for his first class.

To my surprise the day passed rather quickly...and it was a good day as well. Sora was actually talking at lunch so it wasn't completely silent. After school was out I headed toward the cemetery, I wanted to visit Namine because I had to admit to myself that it's been a while since I was there last. Plus maybe should help me get through all this crazy messed up world I live in right now.

Once I arrived at her grave I sat down in front of it as the wind blew and threw my hair slightly in front of my face. "Hello Namine." I said in a low voice. "It's been a while since I've been here hasn't it? I really miss you...we all miss you here." I told her, wondering if she could hear me. "Anyway I wanted to talk to you because...well you probably already know, everything has been getting out of hand lately and I don't know what to do. When my life was falling apart you'd always tell me what to do to get through it all, so...what should I do now?" I asked as I lied down and looked up at the thick gray clouds up above.

I just sat there for several minutes...or maybe an hour or two...lying down on the cold ground hoping she would tell me what to do, hoping I would be able to hear her. I closed my eyes after a while because they were starting to feel cold. It seemed like a few minutes later when I felt something cold touch the tip of my nose before it got wet, then my cheeks. It was very odd so I opened my eyes to see white powder falling from the sky. It was snowing, so I sat up and pushed myself to my feet. That was my cue to head home, I wasn't dressed properly for the cold or the weather.

When I walked into my house Aqua was in the kitchen making a huge dinner, which was odd because she only needed to feed the two of us. I quickly closed the door behind me and walked into the kitchen, then Aqua looked over at me and laughed a little. "I guess it's snowing out." She said as she saw all the white flakes hanging on my clothes and hair.

"Yeah, it shouldn't be that much of a surprise though, it's almost winter." I pointed out before my eyes wondered to the stove. "What's with the huge meal?" I asked.

"Ven and Sora are coming over for dinner tonight...they'll be here in a few minutes actually." She said making an odd face, sometimes she lost track of time. "Kairi, how about you go upstairs and change out of your uniform." she smiled.

"Sure not a problem." I smiled back as I headed for the stairs. Honestly Aqua's smile was something nobody could resist. I quickly changed out of my uniform into a dark red dress Aqua bought me last year just because she could. Before I went down I quickly looked in the mirror. "Here we go." I said to myself as I walked out of the room. This was probably going to be interesting.


	4. Chapter 4

** Chapter 4**

Sora and Ven arrived at the door just as I reached the bottom of the stairs. I quickly opened the door before either on had a chance to ring the doorbell. "Come right on in." I told them as I stepped out of the way.

"Thank you." Ven smiled as he walked passed and took of his coat.

Sora gave me a little smile after he took off his hoodie. "You look great Kairi."

"Oh...thank you I guess." I replied as a walked off towards the kitchen.

"Dinner's ready." Aqua announce as she set the table up while everyone took their seat. We all ate in silence for a little while before anyone said anything.

"How are you feeling today Kai?" Ven asked me. I must have given him an odd look because he looked at me confused and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I said as I took a bite of food, "It's just that...well...I thought you might hate me or something because of the way you looked at me two night ago."

Ven just started laughing. "Oh Kai Kai, I don't hate you, I never have and I never will." he smiled. I smiled back and everyone went back to eating. After dinner I helped Aqua clean up the kitchen as Sora and Ven went into the living room and started talking. I must have made Aqua's day by helping her because she smiled at me a lot.

Once we finished with cleaning up the kitchen we met Ven and Sora in the living room. "So you guys are holding a memorial for Roxas tomorrow right?" Aqua asked.

Sora turned and nodded at her. "That's right, all of his friends and family will be there. It's the closest thing we could get to a funeral for him, I guess they don't do funerals for people who kill themselves." I felt his heart drop when he lowered his eyes.

"That's not fair." I said. "It's not fair, Roxas was a good person who had people who cared about him and loved him, he deserves more than this."

Ven just shook his head, he didn't agree with the system either but he knew he had to go with it. "In the eyes of the church and the people who hold funerals, it's the greatest sin of all to kill yourself. People who have sinned that much don't deserve funerals."

I was angry now. "Then nobody should get a funeral at this point, everyone sins everyday one way or another and it all adds up, who decides who and who doesn't?"

Aqua just looked at me completely shocked. "Kairi..." was all she managed to say.

Sora walked over to me and gave me a hug from the side, "It's hard for all of us, but we all just need to stick together and help each other through this."

I calmed down at that point and looked at everyone. "He's right." I said, "We all need to help each other." After that they stayed a little while longer and we watched the television until they left. Then I went upstairs and changed into my pajamas and crawled into bed. It was hard to fall asleep at first and I just starred at the ceiling until I heard Aqua get in the shower. The sound of the running water calmed me enough until I just fell asleep.

"Kairi...Kairi wake up. It's time to get ready to go." I heard Aqua's calming voice say in a hushed whisper as she was crouched down at the side of my bed. I opened my eyes and blinked a couple times before I looked at the clock, it was already eleven in the morning.

I sat up quickly as Aqua stood up and I got a good view of her short black dress. She didn't wear dresses often but she looked cute in them. "Wow I slept late." I said as I quickly walked over to my closet and pulled out a black dress and got ready to shower. It was really late for me to sleep, even though it was Saturday I never really slept past ten.

I quickly showered, almost burning myself while at it. I really didn't care too much about the water temperature. Then I quickly threw on a long sleeved black dress with a skirt that came down just passed my thighs and curved out a bit. Then I put on knee high socks and black heels, even though I hated heels. How do people walk around in them.

Once I was dressed Aqua and I got in her car and we were off to Sora and Ven's house. Ven and Sora were waiting for us in the entry way, I was really surprised to see that there was a full house already.

"Welcome." Ven smiled at us a little. He and Sora both were dressed in black tuxedos, and they both looked really cute in them. After that Aqua walked off with Ven and I walked off in the other direction with Sora. It was surprising to see how many people showed up from our school but the face that stood out the most was Xion's. She was a very shy girl who transferred to our school shortly before Namine passed away. Roxas had helped her out a lot so it makes sense that she was there.

I was only able to stay downstairs for a little while before it felt crowded and I had to leave the room. I quickly walked upstairs and opened the door that led to the balcony. The cold air was refreshing. I closed my eyes for a bit and just enjoyed the cold air on my skin. When I opened my eyes again I saw two white aura's in the distance that were getting closer and were taking the shape of people.


	5. Chapter 5

** Chapter 5**

I gasped as the aura's stopped right in front of me and took the shape of Roxas and Namine. "No way, this is unreal." I told myself as my legs started to shake.

"Only as unreal as you standing on the balcony." Namine answered, pressing her hands together, like the pictures you see of people praying.

I looked at her, feeling my eyes widen, "But...but how? Your not supposed to be here...you're dead."

She smiled and took a couple steps toward me, leaving Roxas's side. "Last I remembered, you were the one who believed in all this ghost crap." she teased. "But the reason I'm here is because you asked me to be."

"I asked you to be here?" I asked confused. I didn't remember screaming for her to appear in front of me right now, but then again I've been so out of it lately I might have.

Namine nodded, "Yesterday when you came to my grave to visit me, you told me you needed help...well here I am." she said smiling.

"By the way Kairi," Roxas said taking a couple steps forward to take Namine's side, "don't try jumping into lakes again at forty degrees. If I didn't push you up you would be dead just like us right now." he said giving me a very serious look. Sure, he can take his own life and care less about us, but when some of us almost have an accidental death he has to give a lecture.

"Hey Kairi, what's wrong you left in a hur..." Sora called out to me when he walked out of the house and on to the balcony. When I looked at him his face with extremely pale, especially with the tux on.

"Sora are you okay?" I asked as I quickly ran to him and shook him a little. He didn't respond at first and I was about to call for Aqua but thought about it She could end up just like Sora, and I could feel Namine and Roxas still behind me.

Eventually he was able to snap out of it and looked at the ghosts behind me. "Roxas, is that really you?"

Roxas gave a bit of a cocky smile and nodded. "The one and only, nice to know you haven't forgotten about me brother." Sora gave him a bit of a smile and her stared asking him questions like, how have you been and what's it like being dead and whatever else he could think of. Roxas happily replied to all of them.

"Okay Kairi, I guess it's time for me to answer you question." Namine smiled.

I gave her an odd look, I really couldn't say anything back so I just stuttered, "Okay..."

She gave me a small smile and said, "Life is going to be hard and seem almost to get through at times, but always remember I'm watching you and you have people who care about you. Roxas and I won't always be there to get you out of tight place so don't get too crazy."

"I really do miss you." I said to her. I did miss her and Roxas both, and it was to believe Roxas was there with me today, I didn't even see him.

Her eyes filled with sadness but she kept up her small innocent smile, "I miss you too Kai, there isn't a day that doesn't go by where I wish I could be with you guys again."

I smiled a little and her aura started to fade a bit, making her see through, "Don't go, not yet..." I begged.

"I'm so sorry...but I can't control that, not completely." Namine said as a small tear rolled down her cheek.

Just then the balcony door opened again and Aqua and Ven Stepped out. All Ven could do then was stare in horror and wonder as he saw his brother standing there in front of him, only slightly see through and Aqua's eyes filled with tears at the sight of both of them. "This isn't real..." was all she managed to say.

Namine gave her a small wave as the tears kept coming out of her eyes and down her cheeks, staining her see through skin. "Bye." I heard her whispered and Roxas gave us all a smile as his and Namine's figure disappeared out of sight as sparkles of yellow light danced around where they used to be.

Everyone just looked blankly at the open air for a few minutes, not feeling anything as if the whole world just stopped. Finally the silence and the surreal feeling faded when Ven said. "We should get back inside, we'll talk about this later. Nobody argued with him and we all went back to the memorial survive.


	6. Chapter 6

** Chapter 6**

Once the memorial service ended everyone left except for Aqua and I. We all sat in the living room, trying to wrap our minds around what just happened. Roxas and Namine couldn't have been here could they? No one wanted to speak, that much was obvious, we all sat on the couch next to each other, thinking. Nobody knew the right words to say, that much was certain.

"So...they were actually here?" Ven asked after a few moments. I just sat looking straight ahead, listening to the sound of everyone's breathing.

I rested my head on Aqua's shoulder and leaned into her for comfort. "yes, they were here." I answered quietly. "Namine needed to talk to me."

For the first time since Roxas died, tears rolled down Sora's face as the pain finally crushed him, as if reality just hit him hard...he wasn't coming back and Sora knew that now. I gently shifted my weight off of Aqua and hugged him gently as Ven and Aqua's eyes watched us. Sora never really cried much so a few loose tears were all that came from him. "It's okay." I soothed. "I know it hurts but just remember their not gone...not completely."

When I turned to Aqua again she gave me the _Your growing up so well, I'm proud of you _look you get from your parents when you start making all the right decisions in your life for the things you need.

We didn't stay very long after that and when we got home Aqua and I didn't say much to each other either. There was no need to say anything, we knew everything was going to be okay. Once I got my shoes off I went up to my room. I didn't change right away but just laid on the bed for a while and smiled. I folded my hands across my chest where my heart was beating, it felt warm and light, something I haven't really felt for a little while. Inside I knew there was still pain but it didn't hurt that much, I knew I wasn't alone.

Aqua and I saw a lot of Sora and Ven in the passing months, if they weren't at our house we were at theirs. We were just two broken families who knew how each other felt and we had each other no matter what. We all lost our parents, we all lost a special family member, lost someone we cared about, but most importantly we all knew that we could never give up.

"Whew, it's summer vacation for you two already?" Ven asked us as we walked on the sidewalk lining the beach.

I laughed, "Yeah, do you have a problem with that?" I asked as I placed my hands on my hips, causing both Sora and Aqua to laugh.

Ven shook his head. "No, it's just that...well...I'm getting _old_."

"You're not old Ven, you just turned twenty last month." Aqua laughed as she gave us all ice cream cones and took a lick off of hers.

"Yeah, twenty's old." Ven argued. I just bursted out laughing and fell into Sora's side, almost spilling my ice cream all over him.

"Ventus...I'm twenty-three now, what does that make me?" Aqua said giving him a bit of a death glare.

He thought about it before smiling at her. "Aqua, you're just too damn smart and pretty to ever be old." Her jaw dropped then and her eyes seemed horror struck. I wasn't sure if she wanted to smack him or hug him at that point. Once we hit the beach we played volleyball all afternoon, girls against guys. In the end Aqua and I one the most games four to two by the time the sun started to set and we all made our way back to the house.

"Hey Kairi, can I ask you something...I kind of wanted to ask you this for a while." Ven said as he walked into the door. I turned to look at him. Sora was standing right next to him, dumping sand out of his shoes out on the sidewalk.

I nodded and smiled, "Sure go ahead."

"Well, I was wondering what has you in such a good mood all the time..you're smiling constantly." he said.

I shifted my weight a bit before answering. "It was something I realized back in November actually, you know after the service. I knew that that I wasn't alone. I have people I can count on, I'll make it through." I smiled. "I can make it through all the pain and sadness because I know you guys will be with me no matter what." Once I gave my small speech Ven seemed awe struck, Aqua gave me a smile and nodded a little, even Sora had stopped messing with his shoes to look at me.

My eyes scanned over everyone then. First my lovable older sister, I always know she'll have my back no matter what. I couldn't ask for a smarter, nicer, cooler sister. She's always been there for me since my parents died and she'll support me all the time, she only wants whats best.

Then my eyes shifted over to Ven. Even though he can be really odd at times and sometimes it hurts inside to look at him, he's one of the nicest guys out there. He's always cared about my sister and me and he always will. He's almost like the older brother I never had in a way and he'll never betray me, he'll always be there when I need him most.

Finally my eyes locked onto Sora's warm smiley face. I really don't know what I feel for him right now but he's always been my friend since we were little kids. Whenever I need him I know I can always turn to him, or he'll come to me if he knows I have a problem. I placed my fist over my heart and smiled as the warm fluttery feeling over took me.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw two aura's take shape for a second or two. It was Roxas and Namine. They both nodded at me in approval, as if I figured out the meaning of life or something, but I knew this is what Namine needed me to figure out on my own. When I blinked again they were gone, but I knew now that I was never alone, I never was.

_Authors Note: this is the final chapter! I want to thank everyone for reading and reviewing this story, that means a lot to me, you have no idea. It warms my heart to know that I can make something other people enjoy. If you're wondering why I chose that title, I chose it because I was listening to How To Save A Live by The Fray when I got the idea for the story =)_


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